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The Union of Grass Valley - Gr
12 October 2006

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Police chief lends hand in Rom

Romanian law enforcement leaders need a little help in keeping corruption out of their police forces, so Grass Valley Police Chief John Foster took a the 12-hour plane trip last week to lend a helping hand.

Although Eastern Europe is a world away from his hometown, Foster jumped at the chance to be one of six American police chiefs invited to discuss ethics with police leaders across Western Romania. The educational week-long trip was sponsored by the Romanian government and Pointman Leadership Institute, a nonprofit group from Hume, Ca.

Back at his police station Tuesday, still groggy from jet lag and lack of sleep, Foster recalled the highlights of his whirlwind trip and his impressions of the Romanian government.

Foster traveled by car on two-lane roads to

visit six cities in as many days, meeting with dignitaries, presenting "anti-corruption" seminars, sightseeing and participating in local traditions.

He learned and often repeated the Romanian terms for "Thank you very much" and "Good luck," the only phrases he knew.

He feasted on Romanian staples like cheese, sausage and eggs at banquets in quaint rural towns and big cities, where his hosts eagerly shared their culture and asked him about his.

"We were treated like royalty," he said. "I'm afraid to weigh myself."

With the help of interpreters along the way, he said he learned the Romanians are a "proud people," willing to learn from the American leaders sent to "help define their morals, values and ethics."

He said Romanian law enforcement has had problems with corruption since the Romanian Revolution in 1989, when the country's former communist dictatorship was overthrown and the National Salvation Front took over the newborn democracy.

Since then, Romania has joined NATO and formed stronger ties to Western Europe.

In order to join the European Union, the Romanian government is required to provide anti-corruption training to law enforcement and other governmental agencies, he said. Romania is set to join the EU on Jan.1, 2007.

"They're very excited to join the European Union," Foster said.

He said everyone he met treated him and the other Americans with respect, and he was invited back.

"They want us to bring Arnold (Schwarzenegger) next time," Foster said, pointing to an action figure of the California governor perched on his office windowsill, dressed in leather "Terminator" garb.

Foster's wife Eileen went along with plans of her own: To meet with community leaders addressing the country's large population of homeless children and to distribute gifts she brought in extra suitcases.

"My carry-on was full of beanie babies," Foster said.

Eileen Foster said she has wanted to help the orphans for years, and last week's trip was the perfect chance.

"After the revolution in 1989, the American media got inside (Romania) and burned pictures into my soul of these children in desperate need for medical care," she said Wednesday. "They were so neglected, it was horrific."

She said a Romanian senator's wife took her to an orphanage, where she was surprised to see the children were doing very well, and she distributed many of the toys she brought.

"They're doing a phenomenal, fabulous job with these children," she said. "But they still need our encouragement and money. They need more resources."

Eileen Foster visited other orphanages and a children's hospital, filled with gypsy children abandoned by their parents because of their medical problems.

"I saw a child with encephalitis, I saw cleft palates, things that can be fixed," she said. "They just need surgery, and we (United States) have the technology and the medical help they need."

John Foster said law enforcement in Western Romania is built around the idea of supporting the homeless children.

"They perfectly model the community and police to help these kids," Foster said.

Foster said he met a few of the kids begging for money on the street, and he always reached into his pockets, though he has no idea how much money he handed out.

He said he will keep in close contact with the Romanian leaders he met, particularly Radu Tirle, a Senator in the Romanian Parliament.

"He wants us to come back with other community leaders," Foster said. "Not just mayors and governors, but their wives and teachers."

He said his week-long journey to another world inspired him to continue to help his Romanian colleagues.

"I already miss them," Foster said.

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Article sourced from

The Union of Grass Valley - Gr12 October 2006

Police chief lends hand in Rom

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The Union of Grass Valley - Gr
12 October 2006